Jatni: Located about 15 kilometres from Bhubaneswar, Harirajpur village of Khordha district is famous for the ‘Panchu Dola Melana’ – a traditional festival that kicks off after Holi.
The ‘melana’ (congregation) is observed from the fifth day after ‘Dola Purnima’. The uniqueness of this tradition is that deities from 80 nearby villages gather together at the vast 80-acre ‘melana’ ground and play Holi for four days.
The tradition is that Paschimasambhu Somnath Dev, the presiding deity of Harirajpur, invites the deities to Harirajpur to play Holi. On the first day, Somnath Dev’s representative idol placed in a decorated palanquin is taken out from the temple to the ‘melana’ ground in a grand procession amidst ‘Sankirtan’ (devotional chanting), traditional dances such as ‘Ghoda Nacha’, beating of gongs and bursting of firecrackers. The procession starts at about 10pm and ends at about 5am the next day.
The festival is known as Panchu Dola Melana because deities of five major Shiva temples take part in the melana.
According to locals, two villagers named Babaji Gobardhan Das and Nitei Sahu started this way back in 1637.
This year it is being celebrated from March 14 to 17. All necessary preparations have reached final stages to ensure a smooth celebration.
When asked about preparations, melana committee coordinator Prasanna Maharathy informed that they have said no to sound-producing crackers this year.
“This year we have given importance to illumination and colourful crackers only. Keeping the congregation of about a lakh devotees in mind, the administration has taken various steps for smooth flow of traffic and maintaining law and order situation. Besides, in order to make the festival plastic-free, we have already taken steps to create awareness,” Maharathy said.
Besides, the local administration has also been requested for mobile health centres, drinking water tankers and adequate police deployment, the coordinator added.
PNN